


Little Birds

by Langlocke



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Growing Up, No Romance, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-12 05:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15332349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Langlocke/pseuds/Langlocke
Summary: Ezio is taken along with his father and brother. Claudia and Petruccio are left to grow up on their own.----Prologue:“I feel… uneasy,” her littlest brother admits. “I could not sleep. I feel as if… something is about to happen.”Claudia by reflex wants to assuage him, tell him that his worry is baseless, but the sincerity of his confession makes her pause.“To tell you the truth… I feel the same way,” she says, and there’s a finality to her statement that makes the air in the room shift.





	Little Birds

**Author's Note:**

> it is the year of our lord 2018, I am more than a decade late to this franchise, and I am SIGNIFICANTLY DISAPPOINTED AND UPSET that assassin!claudia is not a thing yet. Oh my god. Please link me any and all other assassin!claudia fics that I might have missed, I am in the middle of a famine and drought all at once
> 
> I just got ACII the past summer sale, and got HOOKED. My copies of Brotherhood and Revelations are still mid-delivery, so I think I might miss some canon stuff that happens now? I'm not sure. I'll fix it when i get to it.

“...Petra? Why are you still awake?”

 

Petruccio looks back towards the door of his room, where Claudia had appeared — expression alert and awake, despite being already dressed for bed. She’d gotten a cloak to throw over her chemise, to protect herself from the night chill; but Petruccio could tell from the lack of drowsiness that she could not fall asleep tonight, just like him.

 

He turns back out to the window, the moon bright and illuminating the city as clear as day. Petruccio has his arms spread on the sill, leaning forwards on the balls of his palms. As his sister approaches, he points towards one of the rooftops.

 

“Do you see that?” he says, more than asks. His eyes are wide, as if blinking would break the spell. Claudia has to squint — at first, seeing nothing, the distance being too great to pick out the detail on even the nearby roofs. But as she focuses on her brother’s direction, a figure seems to brighten in her awareness. A small shape, with a soft, white glow, gleaming in the moonlight.

 

A dove.

 

It seems to cock its head, peering curiously over the skyline, before taking off into the night sky.

 

“Ah! Look!” Petruccio speaks in a whisper, though it does nothing to mask his exuberance. “It left a feather behind! Do you see it?”

 

“Yes,” Claudia replies, eyes caught on the striking white of the feather against the darkness. “It is pretty, but Petra —“

 

He interrupts her with a mischievous grin. “I’m going to go get it,” he informs her, starting to climb out the window, only to be stopped —

 

Claudia drags him back down by the edge of his tunic, a spike of panic sending her heart racing. _“No!!”_ she hisses, then looks back towards the entrance of the room, wary of being caught still up. Her brother was so small! Young, talented, but the illness that confined him indoors left his physical movement unreliable, and it pained them all. She turns back to find Petruccio’s petulant expression, though it becomes apparent that is it insincere, as it quickly morphs into something more teasing. (Ah, she’s always falling for his tricks…)

 

“Then, sister, please go get it for me!”

 

Claudia’s expression freezes for a moment, her brow creasing. She bites her lips in contemplation, but there’s a spark in her eyes as she sighs.

 

(Petruccio had always been the one she trusted with her secrets.)

 

“Fine, lend me your trousers.”

 

The rest of her family would have a fit if they discovered her guilty pleasure. Even her elder brothers would _balk_ — and it was them whom she had learned this from, initially! Federico and Ezio has the freedom to leap and run, getting into their own sweaty and thrilling adventures. Claudia watched intently, all their movements, all their methods as they scaled buildings with ease and leapt from rooftop to rooftop. She was never truly jealous, but rather awed at the way they conquered _true_ movement, against the laws of the earth.

 

As a child, she was entertained just like that.

 

As she grew older, she wanted to try it for herself.

 

Claudia has her chemise tucked into her brother’s trousers, the waist still large enough that required her to tie the belt, though the hem only reached mid-calf. She arranges her cloak around her, pulling the hood over her head, as she climbs up backwards onto the windowsill and gives one last look towards Petruccio. He gives her a wide grin.

 

She reciprocates with one of her own, lips parting in something more instinctive, more genuine. A bit more wild.

 

Claudia reaches the roof of their family’s own _palazzo_ , climbing the vines and creeping past the windows of her sleeping siblings. She cautiously paces across the shingles with her bare feet, finding her footing. Takes a step back, then another, and another. A running start forwards and…

 

Swiftly, silently, landing on the adjacent rooftop. She glances back at her audience, and Petruccio mimes applause.

 

She scampers across the buildings, finding footholds and handholds so small only her fingers could grip. It’s easy, exhilarating, moving her weight with speed and grace. A _rightness_ that comes so naturally to her at this height.

 

But Claudia knows that she is a noble woman. She wishes to marry one day — find a kind husband, one that loves her as she will love him. She wants children, to care for and raise. To live a gentle life, like the one she was blessed to have.

 

She is… _ashamed_ , that this was yet another time where she puts on men’s pants, to skulk around in the middle of the night. She knows that she will have to stop this one day, and she will, when it is time to settle down.

 

But not right now. She leaps and flips, so light in her weight that she barely produces a sound, so natural in her movements that she reaches her goal promptly.

 

There is no hesitation as she climbs the spire to reach the previous perch of the dove, plucking a pure white feather from its place. For a moment, Claudia rests at her vantage point, appreciating the view.

 

None of the Auditores ever seemed to be afraid of heights.

 

Petruccio is delighted as she returns, flamboyantly presenting the feather just as their brother Ezio would. “My good _ser_ ,” she says, attempting to copy his baritone and failing, bowing at the waist as she holds it out. Petruccio muffles his giggles with a fist to avoid waking the rest of their family.

 

Though slightly flushed from the exertion, Claudia wears a self-satisfied grin. Her expression softens as she watches her brother admire his gift, rebuffing his gratitudes by ruffling his hair. At fifteen going on sixteen, she was still much taller than his thirteen years of age, though judging by their brothers, that would quickly change.

 

“Now let’s get to bed, alright?” Claudia says, but stops herself as Petruccio falls subdued.

 

“I feel… uneasy,” her littlest brother admits. “I could not sleep. I feel as if… something is about to happen.”

 

Claudia by reflex wants to assuage him, tell him that his worry is baseless, but the sincerity of his confession makes her pause.

 

“To tell you the truth… I feel the same way,” she says, and there’s a finality to her statement that makes the air in the room shift.

 

Petruccio doesn’t seemed shocked by the revelation, and he regards her with understanding eyes. There’s a moment of stillness, with only the sound of their breathing.

 

Her brother steps forwards, wrapping her in a strong hug, squeezing his arms firmly around her waist. She leans into it, wrapping her own arms around his neck, embracing the comfort and love that she could only express in full with him.

 

“I love you, sister.”

 

“You too, brother.”

 

She kisses his forehead, leads him to his bed, brushes his hair as she tucks him in.

 

Claudia pauses at the door to the hallway, turning back to look at her brother one last time. Moonlight still streams through the open window, illuminating Petruccio’s visage, finally peaceful in sleep.

 

“Goodnight,” she whispers softly into the room, and returns to her own.

  



End file.
